Clarion and Pioneer - Subwoofer Review

Given that there's hardly any space to mount a large, deep sub in a lot of today's cars, car audio enthusiasts need a solution such as Clarion's PFW1051. But the question is, how does it sound?

Build ImpressionsThe sub's packaging is only 4.25" deep. Within I found an attractive subwoofer diaphragm that is actually, in Clarion speak, a "polypropylene electrolytic spun aluminum coated dust cap" designed with an embossed 5-point star. This hides the Kevlar/paper composite cone below, attached at the outer edge by a 1"-wide co-polymer composite surround. Its infrastructure is a handsome, 16-rib, cast-aluminum frame with a nice fly-cut finish on the rib surface. The woofer employs a single 4-ohm voice coil, dual strontium ferrite magnet motor assembly, and a linear poly-cotton spider with integrated tinsel leads. The latter are concluded with nicely integrated gold-plated terminal blocks using a recessed set screw to retain up to an 8-gauge speaker wire.

Due to the construction of the basket, the voice coil is barely visible, but it appears to be about 2.5" in diameter. I looked at the box and in the manual, but couldn't find anything that stated the true diameter of the voice coil. The PFW1051's mounting depth is only 3", so it'll fit in tight spots that many subs would be way too deep to occupy.

The PFW1051 is said to use a "hyper-extended vented pole piece" and "Spider Exhaust Technology (SET) Cooling." The frame is designed in such a way that when installed into a 3/4" baffle board, the rear vents on the frame create a slot effect for the air behind the cone to escape through, thereby adding resistance to the cone's movement, and, I'm guessing, some damping which could be beneficial to the driver's sound quality.

The PFW1051 has very good build quality overall; it looks like a pretty cool piece of speaker technology.

ManualThe included multi-model manual is relatively complete with Thiele-Small parameters for all the included models, a table with mounting dimensions and a recommended break-in advisory. Clarion also included helpful enclosure size recommendations, performance graphs and a cutaway view of the subwoofer for those of you who want to see what your sub looks like internally.

InstallationAfter a break-in period of 24 hours at 20Hz (the manual recommends a break-in period of two to three weeks, with initial break-in of four to six hours at 35Hz at 8vrms), the sub was loaded in a sealed enclosure made of 3/4" MDF with an adjusted net internal displacement of 0.5ft3. The enclosure was lightly stuffed with polyfill for some added damping.

I tested this subwoofer in my BMW 330Ci coupe with the rear seats folded to approximate a hatchback-type installation or a small SUV. The path into the listening area was unobstructed. The enclosure was mounted in the right rear corner of the trunk with the driver facing the rear of the car. The sub was powered by a bridged pair of channels of a Genesis 4-channel amp at the recommended 300 watts RMS, with a lowpass frequency set to 70Hz on a 24dB-per-octave slope.

ListeningRockDave Weckl "Heads up"This selection certainly gave the PFW1051 a real workout. It takes a fast, dynamic driver with good low-frequency response to make this piece sound right. Let's see how she fared.

The playback of this complex tune was a little disappointing. When the bass and the drums are both at it hot and heavy, the PFW1051 sounded somewhat muddy and undefined. The lower voices seemed to become one and much of the individual definition was lost. This sub is not alone in this respect. Many other brands of subs succumb to the same flaws with this song. On a positive note, low-frequency extension was pretty good, and the PFW1051 created a pressure wave that's surprising for a shallow mount sub that's only 10" in diameter. The sub also didn't call attention to itself in the back of the car; it blended well with the front stage. I can definitely see a market for this driver in cars (or trucks) where mounting depth is a constraint. It would be even more of a boon to installation if it works well in an infinite baffle configuration. Unfortunately, we don't have the page space here to give it another go-around in that application.Score: 6/10

JazzSteely Dan "Cousin Dupree"Ah, Steely Dan. These guys have a sound all their own and have been making some of my favorite music for almost 35 years. On "Cousin Dupree" there's a dominant bass line that, in my opinion, makes the entire song. Did the Clarion "flat" subwoofer render it believably? Let's see.

The PFW1051 seemed to be back in its element again on this track. The bass line was reproduced faithfully, with good attack, no hangover, nice low-frequency extension and a sound that, again, blended well with the front stage. However, some of the lowest notes were over-accentuated and the linearity wasn't as good on this song as it was with the first two genres. If you have the ability to add some judicious equalization and play with subwoofer placement in your installation, you can probably lessen this acoustic anomaly. All in all, not a bad performance.Score: 7/10

Drum SoloRon Tutt "Improvisation"This is one of my favorite tracks to use when I'm testing the impact and realism of a subwoofer. If the sub isn't fast and accurate, this piece will reveal any flaws. In order for a subwoofer to reproduce this track correctly, it needs to be fast and have good low-end extension, and it can't have that boomy hangover where a tone takes seemingly forever to decay. That may be desirable when playing hip-hop, but when you want accurate reproduction, the sub needs to track the input signal EXACTLY, without any confusing hangover. In other words, when the amp tells the sub to stop, it had better stop - right now!

The Clarion PFW1051 did a respectable job of conveying the realism of this recording. The bass drum sounded appropriately sized and had good impact and low-frequency extension. It also blended quite well with the components in the front of my car. It didn't have that sub-in-the-back, everything-else-up-front effect that many subs exhibit. It was actually quite believable. On this cut, it tracked the original waveform very closely - that's to say it doesn't exhibit the hangover (i.e., exaggerated decay) I mentioned in the last paragraph. So far, it's showing itself pretty well.Score: 7/10

BluesSusan Tedeschi "Little By Little"Susan Tedeschi is one of my favorite artists when it comes to blues performers, male or female, and what makes it even better is the fact that she always has a great backup band. So without further adieu, here we go.

I LOVE MY JOB! Every time I listen to this lady, I get a thrill. The walking bass line in this song was rendered very realistically and with good linearity. The bass was well defined, articulate, and the low-frequency response, lifelike. In the middle of the song there's a break where Tedeschi and the band really cut loose, and the Clarion PFW1051 didn't miss a beat. It supported the rest of the band and gave them a great foundation to build on. This might be getting a little redundant, but again, the bass player sounded as though he's right up front with the rest of the band, where he should be. To listen to this sub on this genre of music is pure pleasure.Score: 8/10

Female VocalJeannie Bryson "Fever"This track is recorded with enough bass to make most subs sound "tubby" and overly large. I usually have to readjust the volume of the subwoofer to get it to blend well with the front stage. I looked forward to seeing how well the Clarion sub would work without readjusting its relationship to the rest of the system.

Perhaps by this point I shouldn't have been surprised by how well the Clarion thin sub handled the selection. The acoustic, stand-up bass sounded better than I've heard it sound with most subs I've tested; the low frequencies appeared to come from the components in the front of the vehicle. As the tune progresses it modulates up in key by a half tone twice, for a total of two key changes. As the song went up in key, the sub sounded more and more convincing, coming close to, but never exhibiting the dreaded "tubbiness" discussed earlier. This in itself was quite a feat. Ascending and descending bass lines were surprisingly linear, and I didn't detect any real hot notes during the performance.Score: 7/10

ConclusionFrom the looks of this attractive subwoofer I was expecting a decent performance. It didn't disappoint me. In fact, I got more than I expected. The $300, Clarion PFW1051 is a piece that I can highly recommend to anyone looking for a good-sounding, compact, installation friendly subwoofer that won't take up a lot of room, and won't break the budget, either. If you're in the market for a driver of this kind, you owe it to yourself to audition this subwoofer. It seems to me to be a great bargain for the money. Kudos to the engineers at Clarion.

Ratings: Average performance is equal to 1/2 total points possible.

Pioneer Premier TS-SW3041DWoofing in the ShallowsPioneer Premier's latest slim-design subwoofers are the TS-SW2541D and TS-SW3041D, both with mounting depths of less than 3.5".

This month I'm puting the $200 TS-SW3041D 12" sub to the test. As always, I'll be evaluating this sub from a sound-quality standpoint, so if your tastes run more toward rap and/or hip-hop, take my comments for whatever they're worth regarding your preferences.

Build ImpressionThe TS-SW3041D comes in a deceptively large packing box with dimensions of 6" x 14.5" x 14.5". According to the spec list, the woofer has an impedance of 4 ohms, a sensitivity of 88dB, a frequency response of 18 to 1,000Hz, and a hefty weight of 16 pounds, 13 ounces. Wow, this may be a real bruiser of a sub, even if it is only 3.25" deep!

The diaphragm of the woofer is an attractive, flat panel with some embossed geometric designs, which will add stiffness to the woofer (a good thing). But things are not always as they appear. Made of extremely strong and lightweight IMPP composite, this driver uses Pioneer's Double Cone technology. The two cones form an "Air Suspension Control System" that locks air between the main cone and drive cone that, according to Pioneer, behaves like a spring by locking in air, so there's no need for a traditional spider structure.

Allowing the driver to move while adding compliance is an accordion-style surround. Made of a three-layer fiber, the woven radial surround evenly distributes stress throughout the material. This can be found on the exterior edges of both cones and combined are rigid enough to keep the voice coil centered even at high power.

To the outside of the front cone is a large rubber gasket/trim piece that wraps the entire edge of the cast aluminum basket. Nicely, the basket is of standard-dimension using an 8-hole bolt pattern. The center of the cone is masked by a metallic-appearing dustcap with the Premier logo emblazoned on it.

Upon inverting the unit, a very industrial look greeted me: nice push terminals for your supply wires, eight canted ribs along with the terminal blocks, red-painted screened vent apertures allowing air movement at the back of the cone, a vented and radiused pole-piece with a fine screen inside it to keep small particles out of the voice coil gap, and six Allen-head cap screws to keep it all together.

ManualThe supplied, multi-lingual, multi-model manual is quite informative. In addition to mounting instructions, enclosure recommendations, Thiele-Small parameters and a mounting template, it lists the TS-SW3041D's unique characteristics. A lot of the cool technology in this woofer is not visible from the outside, so it's nice to see this type of information.

InstallationAfter I ran this sub at 15Hz for about 30 hours to break it in properly, I installed it in my test box that I had adjusted to the Pioneer-recommended 0.8ft3 net displacement. This box was then mounted in the right rear corner of the trunk in my BMW 330Ci coupe with the seats folded to eliminate any potential standing waves in the trunk by the solid seat backs. Essentially, the output of the TS-SW3041D was unobstructed into the listening/passenger area of the car.

I powered the Pioneer with a bridged pair of channels of a Genesis amp very conservatively rated at 300 watts RMS. The lowpass frequency was set to 70Hz with a slope of 24dB per octave.

Let's get on to the listening portion of the test and see if this driver meets Pioneer's expectations.

Listening-Review-SubwooferFemale VocalHolly Cole Trio "I Can See Clearly Now"Holly Cole can elicit all kinds of emotions when she sings, and you can always be assured that the recording quality will be top-notch. This is one of my favorite tracks to test a subwoofer with, because the upright bass can overload the subwoofer(s). To accurately reproduce this track, a sub must be fast, accurate, well damped and it can't exhibit the hangover bass so common with many of today's less-than-desirable low-frequency systems.

Low-frequency extension was pretty good, but linearity left something to be desired. As the bass walked up and down the scale, some notes were considerably louder than others, and consequently, my ears were drawn to the location of the subwoofer in the rear of my car. This was not a good thing. Also, some of the non-linear notes tended to be boomy, even though I adjusted the net volume of my test box to the recommended 0.8ft3, per the owner's manual. This is a common occurrence when I test subwoofers with this track, and that's why I use it to test subs - only the best can reproduce it faithfully. Of course, this boomy characteristic could be built into this driver to address the hip-hop crowd, and those of you who want a big-sounding bottom end, in which case this could be your driver of choice. If this unit was going into a system aimed at SQ, I think I'd try a larger enclosure with a net box displacement somewhere around 1 to 1.25ft3 to eliminate some of the boominess I experienced here (a larger enclosure could decrease power handling, so try at your own risk -ed.).Score: 5/10

RockVan Halen "Amsterdam"When I saw Van Halen live a few years ago, I was impressed by how Michael Anthony's bass drove the whole band and how articulate his playing was. So I wanted to hear how that would play on this sub. Unfortunately, the low frequencies in this track sounded more like a muddy jumble than the rhythm section of one of today's best rock bands. The bottom end felt boomy; the bass drum seemed like it was at least 40" in diameter; and there was virtually no definition to the individual bass notes that Mr. Anthony contributed to the fray. I'd have to describe the Pioneer's performance as slow and undefined.

Just to make sure it wasn't this individual track that was giving this subwoofer such a hard time, I listened to every track on the album, hoping I'd find at least one that sounded better, only to arrive at the same result. Disappointing, to say the least.Score: 4/10

JazzSteely Dan "Cousin Dupree""Cousin Dupree" has a dominant bass line in it that really drives the whole song. It should sound crisp, articulate and well-defined, and it shouldn't detract from or obscure what the other voices in the recording are doing.

The TS-SW3041D did a little better here, but the same faults showed up, only to a lesser degree. The bottom end had good extension but lacked the definition I'd like to hear, and again the non-linearity pointed out the location of the subwoofer. It sounded like the bass kept moving from the front to the rear of the car at will, which I found disconcerting and non-musical. The sub just sounded too darn big to be believable, and it didn't blend well with the front stage a lot of the time. As I mentioned before, this sub might be just the ticket for the person who wants a lot of boom in their system.Score: 5/10

CountryDixie Chicks "Long Time Gone"The Dixie Chicks have a very unique sound. It really doesn't matter whether you're from a "Red" state or a "Blue" one, these girls can sing and play. They use an acoustic bass fiddle on most of their songs, and the Pioneer TS-SW3041 did a better job of making it sound real on this track, better than it did on the previous selections. Low-frequency extension was reasonably realistic, and the sub blended a little better with the front stage of my system, but there were still notes that wanted to jump to the rear of the car. If I turned the subwoofer level control down to where the boomy notes blended with the rest of the voices, certain other notes got lost entirely on ascending and descending passages. Up to this point, I wasn't able to find a happy medium where everything sounded coherent and smooth. Maybe the next genre of music will be the one that sounds best.Score: 6/10

BluesB.B. King and the GRP All-Star Big Band "Stormy Monday"This is one of my favorite tracks for testing just about every category when evaluating a musical performance. It's extremely well recorded, very dynamic, and the band sounds absolutely huge. As one might expect, in order to make this track sound like a live performance, a powerful, accurate subwoofer system is an absolute necessity.

The Pioneer did sound better on this track than it had on any of the other genres. It did an acceptable job of blending with my front stage most of the time and it sounded quite dynamic. The low-frequency extension was also pretty good, but non-linearity reared its ugly head again. Some of the low notes just bloomed with about twice the volume that they should have to properly blend with the rest of the band. It didn't seem to be a problem with the transition between sub-bass and midbass, it just got too loud only on certain notes. A little disappointing considering this was in the factory-recommended sealed enclosure.Score: 6.5/10

ConclusionIf you're looking for a fast, accurate, articulate subwoofer for your mobile audio system, you'll probably want to look elsewhere. On the other hand, if you want a sub that sounds big, has a lot of boom to it for playing rap and hip-hop, and fits in the shallow space where you want or need to mount it, the $200 Pioneer TS-SW3041D is probably just what the doctor ordered. Give it a listen and decide for yourself.

Ratings: Average performance is equal to 1/2 total points possible.